


Set me free.

by cumberb00ty



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Post-Episode: s04e03 The Final Problem, Sherlock's Mind Palace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 03:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10324838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cumberb00ty/pseuds/cumberb00ty
Summary: After the events of ‘’The Final Problem’’,Sherlock and John try to resume back to some sort of ‘’Normality’’ however with the return of some old faces and some eventual realisations,Sherlock finds himself driven into the most cruelest warfare of all- Romantic entanglement.





	1. Save my soul.

Sherlock quivered with the memory of the previous Sunday when he had met his deranged sister Eurus and the twisted games per vivisection she had put him through. His mind soon drawn to the repressed memory of Redbeard who turned out to be Victor Trevor, it was all too much and his nightmares were becoming more prominent as the days turned into a week. He had been staying at his parents house in Hertfordshire as according to John ‘he needed his family right now’ Sherlock repulsed at this notion, he needed to be back in London, he wanted it to all go back to how it was before but he knew there were all loose ties colliding around him, namely what had happened to Molly.

 

Emotional context,Sherlock,it destroys you every time. Sherlock winced at the word as he laid on the bed,facing up at the ceiling in the spare room of his parents small,quaint house in the countryside. How mundane, how dull. He thought. His mind wandering in and out of the halls of his mind palace, studying his younger self and the younger incarnation of his sister,he imagined himself as the small pirate in his mind palace intently watching Eurus as she faced away from him in her cream cardigan and baby blue dress, he tried not to blink, blinking would be bad, blinking would be a distraction and he didn’t want her to fade. Not again. Not ever.

 

He jolted back and forth out of his seldom. He couldn't consider sleep, it would be too distracting and then that is when the nightmares would come. It was a cruel cycle of sleeping to drown out the pain but the horrors were creeping into his sub consciousness and his dreams would be tarnished, he never felt so alone, he had no equal, felt like he had no place in the world. Eurus was out of reach,Mycroft,intellectually superior but emotionally diminished, Sherlock couldn't relate.

 

It was the man with the oval blue eyes and the blonde swept hair that held him here now. John Watson. His best friend. The bravest and most remarkable man he had ever met. But an equal? He hadn't decided yet.

 

His focus was drifting to someone else as well a woman. The Woman? No, this woman was different. She was petite, brown hair straight falling just above the curve in her back, chocolate brown eyes gleaming into his, they were like his very own compass,guiding him towards her.She knelt down to his level,his child self in his palace,she smiled,gave him a red tattered scarf. Redbeard’s scarf.

He never appreciated nostalgia but the scarf however painful was also welcomed.

 

“A gift.” she murmured. “It's necessary” his eyes started to water,as he clung on to the material. “Remember,Sherlock,you need to remember” she was pleading with him now,her own eyes starting to tear and overcome with sadness. “We are all memories in the end but remembering them keeps them alive.” She is crying now,why is she doing that? Why is she doing this?

“He's dead.” I wail in confusion. “No not him,you. The other you,the emotional you.The one you was,remember him Sherlock,take his thoughts,his memories,make them your own.Come back,come home”

And then she is gone. He looks down at himself,he is now back to his norm,defined cheekbones and the belstaff,clutching onto the scarf.Come home. He vows. For John,for Victor,for himself.

His mind then wanders back to the woman he had hallucinated,she was more of an avatar image in his Mind Palace so he couldn't define her entirely when she returned,but soon she became clearer and she smiled and he gasped. It was the pragmatic side of his subconsciousness merging into everything. Molly. Always there in his most desperate hour of need,she saved his life with the gunshot but he now knew her purpose behind the scarf and the pleading for his real selfs return.

Save his soul. Save Sherlock Holmes. It was this notion that helped him rest and welcome sleep,drifting off.

It was what he could be that settled him now,it was what she saw he could be and he never felt more determined to help her fulfil that aim.


	2. Start the story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock needs some advice.

It was noon by the time Sherlock was back from his parents and decided to stay at Mycroft's, he couldn’t face the outside world just yet. But he felt content that he was back in his sanctuary. Back in London. 

 

Mycroft was busy being the British Government and going on full security lockdown with Sherrinford to prevent Eurus from ever ruining any more lives again. There was a pang of sadness in Sherlock’s heart as he overheard a psychiatrist confirm to Mycroft that Eurus was now unresponsive, out of view. In a catatonic state. She just now existed. Though he knew this was for the greater good. 

‘’I rather like this room. Better than the morgue, am I on day release? ’’ questioned mind palace Molly to Sherlock whilst he was sat recollecting his thoughts from the previous night.She then made an awkward face,knowing that talk of ‘’day releases’’ probably isn't appropriate considering his sister is in a mental institution. He imagined that Molly would say something like that. Dig the hole. Oh don’t make jokes Molly. ‘’What are you thinking?’’ She continues. ‘’What do you need?’’ he looks intently at the imaginary figure sat across from him in Mycroft’s chair, she is wearing the same jumper that she wore when he told her those three words, so devastating and they felt so fresh. ‘’That I need to talk to you,tell you what happened. In order for me to save myself, become who I really am, I need to tell you that I-’’ Mind palace Molly put a finger to his lips. ‘’Well then’’ she begins, carefully treading with her words. ‘’Sherlock Holmes...get the hell on with it.’’ 

 

His eyes widened and he reached for his belstaff,adrenaline rushing through him. The only adrenaline rush that a certain pathologist could make him feel. His curls bounced as he rushed at such a speed, putting his scarf around his neck,tucking it in underneath his belstaff to maintain warmth. He was soon out onto the main stretch of the busy London street, he remembered that it was Monday afternoon, reminding himself of her work routine, something he had grown accustomed to during his time with her after The Fall. He didn’t know whether the morgue would be appropriate, as he realised now it would be rather distracting, him waltzing in to St Bart’s confessing all about Eurus and why he had to tell her what he told her over the phone. 

 

Perhaps I should rethink tactics, get some advice. His thoughts were disturbed by the rainfall from the clouds above. ‘’Taxi’’ he yelled. The cab slid into the space that Sherlock was occupying near and the detective jumped in. ‘’Where you off to mate?’’ ‘’St Barts’’ Sherlock replied, ruffling his damp hair to make it look a little presentable. 

‘’Sure thing.’’ The taxi started to drive on to its destination and Sherlock started to feel the full rush of nervousness, the prospect of seeing her again,he looked undone ,he didn’t know whether he wanted to be saved, could he really lay his feelings bare right there,right then. The scarf was constricting around him, his cheeks flushed to the imaginary touch of Molly’s hand caressing it. 

 

‘’Actually... can we change route?’’ Sherlock gave him the address of the man he needed to wield him through, tell him what to do, what's a bit good,what’s a bit not good. He needed the reassurance and advice from John. ‘’ Yep. I would definitely be lost without my blogger.’’ Molly smirked. ‘’Now you’re getting it.’’ he smiled to himself at her incursion. It’s not like he didn’t know but going to your best friend to ask him about how to approach a girl and not a case was a welcoming change. 

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sherlock knocked on the door to the Watson’s flat. He could hear the cries of his Goddaughter Rosie Watson, her cries coming closer to fruition as herself and her father approached the other side of the door. John opened it, perplexed when he saw who the visitor was. 

 

‘’Well...I thought you had emigrated.’’ Sherlock looked at him firmly then relaxed. ‘’It was tempting.’’ he sighed. ‘’So.. Where have you been staying? I...We missed you.’’ he cradled his daughter in his arms,setting her on his knees. ‘’Did what you said,stayed with my parents. My mother can be quite insufferable, my parents want to go and see Eurus now they know she is alive and well,scolding Mycroft and what not. I actually sympathise.’’ John frowned. ‘’Sherlock,he locked your sister up in a mental institute and repressed your memory of your best friend? He didn't even consider Victor did he? And told your parents their daughter was dead.’’ John couldn’t get his head around what Mycroft thought deemable at ‘’trying his best’’. ‘’My brother did everything for my sake and for Eurus I think that’s why he wanted me to shoot him,his punishment. So yes,I sympathise with him because that might just make him that little bit more human.’’ Sherlock wasn’t angry,he just felt sadness,his heart ripped to pieces by everything,all of it. He remembered the horror and dread when he heard John after being shot with the tranquilizer but not the voice of his brothers.The silence was too serene. 

 

The painful memories were no longer of focus as John decided to change the subject. ‘’Look it’s in the past now.. You need to focus on the future. Have you been in contact with Molly? She turned up at my flat the day after,and I had to tell her the truth.’’ Sherlock’s eyes darted at him,scared of her reaction or angry at the fact he couldn’t have told her from his own lips. 

‘’It’s your own stupid fault’’ mind palace Molly gave him a stern look,walking over to the bean bag and plumping herself behind John,giving him a solemn stare. ‘’You know what I’m like,explanations are my forte’’. Sherlock softened at this notion,she just wanted the truth,she deserved the truth. 

‘’She knows about Eurus and I gave her brief descriptions over everything,I didn’t tell her about Victor though and if you…’’ he was struggling,almost hesitant,tripping over his words.

‘’If you meant it’’. He finally delivered.

 

Vatican cameos. He couldn’t breathe,the only thing keeping him calm was the blonde girl in John’s arms. He had to focus. Was it now time to ask for the advice he so desperately needed? Yes Sherlock. Molly murmured,encouragingly. ‘’John...how do I tell her?’’ John looked at him,utmost shock rising across his expression. ‘’It’s hard to put into words how someone makes you feel.. yeah ,you tell them you love them,you tell them they are your world or their universe or write sonnets and love notes,get married and have kids. But it’s so much more than that,it’s so much better,so much deeper than that. You tell them what they mean to you,Sherlock.You tell her exactly how she makes you feel. Tell her what YOU feel. From here on in,it’s both of you. Find the same page.Start the story’’ Sherlock smiled in awe at the passion John put into his words. ‘’Mary?’’ ‘’Mary.’’ 

‘’Welcome to romantic entanglement.’’ John beamed.,shifting Rosamund in his arm and walking over to Sherlock. ‘’The greatest weaponry of them all.’’ Sherlock exclaimed,focusing on the young child stirring in her father’s arms,smiling profusely. John passed her over to her godfather,as he went to make tea. A single tear falling from his left cheek as he realised that his story was now over but another one was beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why have one chapter in one day when you can have two?
> 
> Lets hope Sherlock eventually gets his a** into gear and tells Molly how he feels but for the next chapter or two will explore Sherlock trying to get back into the swing of things and him obvs coming face to face with Molly since TFP.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter complete!  
> Feedback always appreciated. :)


End file.
